chocolatpi
chocolatpi's JournalRussian GRU launching sofisticated cyber attacks
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/how-russia’s-military-intelligence-agency-became-the-covert-muscle-in-putin’s-duels-with-the-west/ar-BBRwGaBThe Washington Post
How Russia’s military intelligence agency became the covert muscle in Putin’s duels with the West
Anton Troianovski, Ellen Nakashima 1 day ago
…snip
GRU units also are suspected of deploying a highly disruptive computer virus dubbed NotPetya, analysts said. Launched on June 28, 2017 — Ukraine’s Constitution Day — the virus wiped data from the computers of banks, energy firms, senior government officials and an airport in Ukraine.
It also affected computers in Denmark, India and the United States. The White House called it “the most destructive and costly cyberattack in history.”
In response to the NotPetya virus and other suspected hackings, the United States in March placed sanctions on six GRU officials.
“Ukraine is to 21st-century hybrid warfare what Spain was in the 1930s for battlefield blitzkrieg techniques — the place where the bad guys try out what they may use against us later on,” said Daniel Fried, a former senior State Department official who helped lead the West’s response to Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine.
Russia has denied that the GRU engages in malign activity around the world. After Mueller’s indictment of 12 officers accused of interfering in the U.S. election, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said that “it has become the norm in Washington to promote fake news and initiate criminal proceedings for obvious political purposes.”
Russian GRU engages in malign espionage
The essay below is an excellent source for anyone interested in how Putin has weaponized the internet. That includes deployment of one or more viruses. The timeline is tied to the beginnings of GRU attacks on Ukraine. It’s long and worth the time to read.
Scary stuff considering the buffoon who was selected by Tsar Putin occupies our WH. The Republicans in Congress, especially loud mouth rumpers like Graham, are a disgrace to our democracy. I continue to be disgusted, outraged and shocked by the daily betrayals of the American people by Republicans.
Who are these members of Congress or candidates who have taken Russian/NRA money to fund political self-interests?
I am not in favor of a McCarthy style inquisition. I do expect our Congress to enforce The Rule of Law and follow established law on contributions to campaigns by hostile foreign governments. As an idealist, I want to believe in fair, equal and swift justice for all.
Congress must police their own. They have the tools to do. Establish priorities and hold hearings, bring the filth out into the open for public shaming. Failure to do so is to be complicit in this systematic destruction of our institutions by powers both foreign and domestic.
As always, just my opinion
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/how-russia’s-military-intelligence-agency-became-the-covert-muscle-in-putin’s-duels-with-the-west/ar-BBRwGaB
The Washington Post
How Russia’s military intelligence agency became the covert muscle in Putin’s duels with the West
Anton Troianovski, Ellen Nakashima 1 day ago
…snip
GRU units also are suspected of deploying a highly disruptive computer virus dubbed NotPetya, analysts said. Launched on June 28, 2017 — Ukraine’s Constitution Day — the virus wiped data from the computers of banks, energy firms, senior government officials and an airport in Ukraine.
It also affected computers in Denmark, India and the United States. The White House called it “the most destructive and costly cyberattack in history.”
In response to the NotPetya virus and other suspected hackings, the United States in March placed sanctions on six GRU officials.
“Ukraine is to 21st-century hybrid warfare what Spain was in the 1930s for battlefield blitzkrieg techniques — the place where the bad guys try out what they may use against us later on,” said Daniel Fried, a former senior State Department official who helped lead the West’s response to Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine.
Russia has denied that the GRU engages in malign activity around the world. After Mueller’s indictment of 12 officers accused of interfering in the U.S. election, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said that “it has become the norm in Washington to promote fake news and initiate criminal proceedings for obvious political purposes.”
Chinese espionage
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chinese-spy-how-a-former-cia-officer-was-caught-betraying-his-country-60-minutes/Dec 23, 2018
Anderson Cooper
This is what espionage looks like. The man standing on the right in the yellow shirt is Kevin Mallory, who once held a top-secret security clearance while working for the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency. Footage from a surveillance camera at a Virginia FedEx store in April last year caught him as he prepared to hand a clerk stacks of classified documents to be scanned onto an SD card, the kind that can be inserted into a mobile phone.
Ryan Gaynor: So this is the rare moment, right, in an investigation, in an espionage case, where we actually have video footage of the individual preparing the classified material for transmission to the foreign intelligence service.
We watched the tape with Ryan Gaynor, the FBI supervisory special agent who investigated Mallory, and Jennifer Gellie, who prosecuted the case against him for the National Security Division of the Department of Justice. They say Kevin Mallory sent national security secrets to a Chinese spy on a covert communication device.The man standing on the right in the yellow shirt is Kevin Mallory, who once held a top-secret security clearance while working for the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency. Footage from a surveillance camera at a Virginia FedEx store in April last year caught him as he prepared to hand a clerk stacks of classified documents to be scanned onto an SD card, the kind that can be inserted into a mobile phone.
Chinese Spy
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chinese-spy-how-a-former-cia-officer-was-caught-betraying-his-country-60-minutes/Dec 23, 2018
Anderson Cooper
This is what espionage looks like. The man standing on the right in the yellow shirt is Kevin Mallory, who once held a top-secret security clearance while working for the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency. Footage from a surveillance camera at a Virginia FedEx store in April last year caught him as he prepared to hand a clerk stacks of classified documents to be scanned onto an SD card, the kind that can be inserted into a mobile phone.
Ryan Gaynor: So this is the rare moment, right, in an investigation, in an espionage case, where we actually have video footage of the individual preparing the classified material for transmission to the foreign intelligence service.
We watched the tape with Ryan Gaynor, the FBI supervisory special agent who investigated Mallory, and Jennifer Gellie, who prosecuted the case against him for the National Security Division of the Department of Justice. They say Kevin Mallory sent national security secrets to a Chinese spy on a covert communication device.The man standing on the right in the yellow shirt is Kevin Mallory, who once held a top-secret security clearance while working for the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency. Footage from a surveillance camera at a Virginia FedEx store in April last year caught him as he prepared to hand a clerk stacks of classified documents to be scanned onto an SD card, the kind that can be inserted into a mobile phone.
This is what espionage looks like. (Chinese)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chinese-spy-how-a-former-cia-officer-was-caught-betraying-his-country-60-minutes/Dec 23, 2018
Anderson Cooper
This is what espionage looks like. The man standing on the right in the yellow shirt is Kevin Mallory, who once held a top-secret security clearance while working for the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency. Footage from a surveillance camera at a Virginia FedEx store in April last year caught him as he prepared to hand a clerk stacks of classified documents to be scanned onto an SD card, the kind that can be inserted into a mobile phone.
Ryan Gaynor: So this is the rare moment, right, in an investigation, in an espionage case, where we actually have video footage of the individual preparing the classified material for transmission to the foreign intelligence service.
We watched the tape with Ryan Gaynor, the FBI supervisory special agent who investigated Mallory, and Jennifer Gellie, who prosecuted the case against him for the National Security Division of the Department of Justice. They say Kevin Mallory sent national security secrets to a Chinese spy on a covert communication device.
The Depravity of Climate-Change Denial
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/the-depravity-of-climate-change-denial/ar-BBQ861vThe New York Times
The Depravity of Climate-Change Denial
By PAUL KRUGMAN 1 day ago
The Trump administration is, it goes without saying, deeply anti-science. In fact, it’s anti-objective reality. But its control of the government remains limited; it didn’t extend far enough to prevent the release of the latest National Climate Assessment, which details current and expected future impacts of global warming on the United States.
True, the report was released on Black Friday, clearly in the hope that it would get lost in the shuffle. The good news is that the ploy didn’t work.
The assessment basically confirms, with a great deal of additional detail, what anyone following climate science already knew: Climate change poses a major threat to the nation, and some of its adverse effects are already being felt. For example, the report, written before the latest California disaster, highlights the growing risks of wildfire in the Southwest; global warming, not failure to rake the leaves, is why the fires are getting ever bigger and more dangerous.
But the Trump administration and its allies in Congress will, of course, ignore this analysis. Denying climate change, no matter what the evidence, has become a core Republican principle. And it’s worth trying to understand both how that happened and the sheer depravity involved in being a denialist at this point.
….snip
Facebook has a problem with black people, former employee charges
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/facebook-has-a-problem-with-black-people-former-employee-charges/ar-BBQa3MJUSA Today
Facebook has a problem with black people, former employee charges
Jessica Guynn 14 hrs ago
SAN FRANCISCO – Facebook has a problem with black people.
That's the assessment of Mark Luckie, a former employee who says racial discrimination is real, both on the company's Silicon Valley campus and on the social media giant's platform.
A Facebook post he shared with management and employees earlier this month and released publicly on Tuesday exposes racial fault lines that Luckie says should be a matter of grave public alarm, with the lack of representation and agency of black people inside Facebook directly affecting how black people on Facebook are treated.
"I wish I didn't have to write it. I was determined to stay there and build," Luckie told USA TODAY in an interview Tuesday. "I had to write what all the black employees are saying and feeling and we don’t feel empowered to speak up about."
…..snip
A black man helped his drunk neighbor get home -- and got arrested
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-black-man-helped-his-drunk-neighbor-get-home-and-got-arrested/ar-BBQakHW?li=BBnb7KxA black man helped his drunk neighbor get home — and got arrested
Michael Brice-Saddler 15 hrs ago
A black man who was arrested in Montgomery County, Md., earlier this month after helping his intoxicated neighbor says he thinks his race was a factor in the incident.
The arrest took place on the morning of Nov. 17 outside 23-year-old Samir Ahmed’s Silver Spring home. After safely dropping off his neighbor — who was drunk and repeatedly falling down — Ahmed said he noticed numerous police cars and firetrucks gathered near his driveway.
Someone had called emergency services to aid the drunk man, Montgomery County police told him. Ahmed explained he’d already walked the man home. An officer then asked him for the man’s exact address, and Ahmed was reluctant to share it, telling The Washington Post on Tuesday that he felt the situation had already been resolved.
…..snip
For framing innocent black men, a Florida police chief gets 3 years in prison
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/for-framing-innocent-black-men-a-florida-police-chief-gets-3-years-in-prison/ar-BBQaoxz?li=BBnbfcLThe Miami Hearld
For framing innocent black men, a Florida police chief gets 3 years in prison
By Jay Weaver and David Ovalle, Miami Herald 8 hrs ago
MIAMI - Raimundo Atesiano, the former Biscayne Park police chief who directed his officers to frame innocent men for a series of unsolved burglaries, admitted he wanted to appease community leaders and polish the village's property crimes record.
Even in a small village of about 3,000 residents, the pressure was just too much, he said.
"When I took the job, I was not prepared," Atesiano told a federal judge on Tuesday. "I made some very, very bad decisions."
His apologies did not sway U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore, who on Tuesday sentenced the 53-year-old former cop to three years in prison. He allowed Atesiano to remain free for two weeks before surrendering so he can care for his mother, who is dying of leukemia.
…..snip
Peace
The current administration wants a war to keep them in power.
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